Never ending search for the missing

22 June, 2011
By Dinasena Ratugamage
Vavuniya

They came in their hundreds in search of their loved ones. Almost all returned empty handed. Nearly two thousand Tamils have visited the police in the northern Sri Lankan town of Vavunia over the last ten days to find details of those missing during the war and since the military declaring it's victory over Tamil Tigers more than two years ago. Ten days ago Sri Lankan police announced they will release information about those held by the police to relatives. Police spokesperson SP Prishantha Jayakody told BBC Sandeshaya that the information will not be made available to "any body other than the close relatives". Three centres established in the north, south and the capital Colombo will provide details of those held by the police Terrorist Investigation Division (TID), he said. Only one man out of thousands who went to the centre in Vavunia was told where his son is. As soon as he was told that the detainee is held hundreds of miles away in the southern town of Galle, he rushed to board the first available train out of town. Due to the large number of relatives approaching the Vavunia centre, police only meet 200 people each day. Journalists barred by the police were only able to talk to desperate and tearful relatives by the wayside. Those who were unable to gather information of their missing relatives were desperate. "My 26 year old son Pradeep was taken by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) when he went to Colombo to get his passport. That's all we know," Mylu Shanmugathas from Tellipalai told the BBC after his search since 2008 drew a blank once again. Mr. Shanmugathas has been to police stations, military camps and human rights offices in search of his son. Some were looking for their sole breadwinner. "There is no one to provide me. Who will look after me or care if I fall ill?" cried a frail looking Tamil woman who said that her son had gone missing since been taken by the police in 2007. The Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) in place since 1979 gives the authorities power to hold detainees for 90 days incommunicado. The defence secretary is the sole authority to renew or revoke a Detention Order (DO) under the PTA. Brother of the president Gotabhaya Rajapaksa currently holds the position. United Nations, European Commission and India alongside human rights organisations have called for the repeal of teh PTA. TID officials in Vavunia say that they are unable to provide details of the 'dissapeared'. The Committee for the Investigation (CID) in Sri Lanka say that they have recorded details of over five thousand dissapearances that took place since 2006. Relatives in Vavunia keep coming to the TID information centre daily with gradually diminishing hope. Leading the Sri Lankan delegation Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa told the UN Human Rights Commission in early July that over five thousand suspected Tamil Tigers are held in what he called rehabilitation centres. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sri Lanka hits back 21 June, 2011 The Sri Lankan government has condemned what it calls a "vicious" and "diabolical" campaign against it emanating from some Western countries. These remarks by External Affairs Minister of Sri Lanka came days after an independent British television station broadcast what it said was evidence of war crimes committed in the country, and hours after the former foreign ministers of Britain and France condemned the mainly Sinhalese government for its treatment of the Tamil minority. Not for the first time, the government of Sri Lanka seems to feel itself to be under siege with various accusations coming from the West. The External Affairs Minister, G.L. Peiris, said Sri Lanka was being subjected to a "vicious political campaign", of which Channel 4 was only a part - a reference to the British station which has broadcast a documentary accusing the government and Tamil Tigers of war crimes. Minister Peiris said there were "diabolical" moves to stop President Rajapaksa from travelling abroad - an apparent reference to a recent summons issued to him by a US court after Tamil exiles filed cases against him over the deaths of their family members. And he said, without elaborating, that the country was being subjected to an "economic onslaught" aimed at hampering its development. Erroneous information In a joint article in the New York Times, David Miliband and Bernard Kouchner, who visited Sri Lanka at the height of its war as foreign ministers of Britain and France, have accused Colombo of failing to resettle Tamil internal refugees properly, or to give them full rights or hold anyone responsible for alleged human rights violations. Minister Peiris said the two were acting on biased and erroneous information. His remarks came at a news conference after President Rajapaksa's successful trip to an economic forum in Russia. He highlighted the strong support extended to his country by both Russia and China, and also by Spain whose prime minister he met for the first time.